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Patterns of Force (episode)
The Enterprise discovers a planet where a Federation historian has apparently interfered with its society to have it model Nazi Germany. Summary The Enterprise heads for the planet Ekos to retrieve cultural observer John Gill, a brilliant history teacher; Spock and McCoy reminisce about his style of approaching history as a matter of cause-and-effect, rather than dates and events. While approaching the planet, the ship is attacked by an old-style chemical rocket with a thermonuclear warhead -- technology that the planet is not yet supposed to be capable of developing. Fearing that Gill's mission has been compromised in violation of the Prime Directive of non-interference with developing planets, Kirk and Spock beam down to Ekos. They find a culture almost identical to that of Germany during its Nazi period of the 1930s-40s; down to the uniforms, salutes, hatred of the neighboring planet Zeon and the concept of the Fuhrer... John Gill himself. Stealing some uniforms, Kirk and Spock attempt to infiltrate the Fuhrer's headquarters but are quickly captured and interrogated, this is interrupted by Chairman Eneg, who chides the SS guard for not realizing that punishment is effective for just so long. Left with their wounds still open, they find themselves imprisoned with Isak, an Zeon underground member who explains how the Nazi movement began, coinciding with the time of Gill's arrival. Using Rubindium transponders planted below their skin before beaming down, the trio manage to escape and return to their base. There, Isak is told of the death of his fiance. In the midst of this, a squad of Ekosian stormtroopers (led by a woman) arrives, intent on arresting the entire lot. When Kirk and Spock intervene to help the underground workers, it is learned that the woman, Daras, is an Ekosian member of the underground. Kirk and Spock then reveal who they are and why they are here. They also learn that a fleet of space vehicles is preparing to depart from Ekos to carry the war of extermination to Zeon. Kirk and Spock accompany Daras and Isak (in Nazi disguise) to Fuhrer headquarters to try and reach Gill; Dr. McCoy joins them in Nazi uniform. Once inside, they listen to a speech by Gill, followed by another from his deputy, Melakon, pledging the destruction of Zeon. The three are able to sneak into a broadcast booth and find Gill, heavily drugged. Partly revived by McCoy, they learn the truth; Gill took matters into his own hand on Ekos, which was in a state of anarchy. He organized the planet using the efficiency of the Nazi system, but tried to prevent it from sliding into sadism. Melakon, however, began a takeover and began drugging Gill; Melakon has been the real power on Ekos for years. Isak, meanwhile, learns that Eneg is a member of the underground resistance. With time running out before the Ekosian fleet reaches Zeon, Kirk revives Gill to a state of coherency; Gill immediately broadcasts a message halting the invasion, and declaring Melakon a traitor. Melakon shoots Gill to silence him but is, in turn, killed by Isak. As Gill dies, he tells Kirk the Prime Directive was the right way all along. Meanwhile, Eneg takes control of the government, declaring "there's been enough killing. Now we'll live the way the Fuhrer wanted us to." Quotes * "We may make a human of you yet." - James T. Kirk "I hope not!" - Spock * "Why do the Nazis hate Zeons?" "Why? Because without us to hate, there'd be nothing to hold them together. So the party has built us into a threat, a disease to be wiped out." "Is Zeon a threat to them?" "Our warlike period ended dozens of generations ago." -- Spock, Isak and Kirk * "She would have... been my wife..." "She lived for four hours... while they walked past her -- and spat upon her. Our own people couldn't help her... now you ask me to... help strangers." "If we adopt the ways of the Nazis... we're as bad as the Nazis." -- Davod and Isak * "John Gill was sent by the Federation as a cultural observer." "You mean that the Fuhrer... is an alien? (astonished) For so long I grew to love him... then, later, to hate everything he stands for... but, now, to learn that he was an alien sent to destroy us--" "That was never his mission. He was sent only to observe this planet. Obviously, something went wrong; that's why we're here." -- Daras and Kirk * "Planet in... state of anarchy... took lesson from... Earth history." "But why Nazi Germany, Gill? You studied Earth History -- you knew what the Nazis were!" "Most efficient state... Earth ever knew." "Quite true, captain. A tiny country -- beaten, bankrupt, defeated -- rose in just a few short years to stand one step away from global domination." "But it was brutal, perverted! It had to be destroyed at a terrible cost! Why that example?" "Perhaps Gill felt that such a state, run benignly, might achieve its efficiency without sadism." -- John Gill, Kirk and Spock * "See to the Fuhrer at once; he's ill." (grabs the guard) "And turn off that camera." -- Melakon upon hearing the revived Gill. Background * Because of its subject matter, this episode was withheld from broadcast by the German station that aired TOS, as it felt it to be unsuitable for its intended audience. Austrian state owned TV on the other hand did broadcast it, although untranslated with German subtitles (translation of the other episodes was done in Germany and bought by Austrian TV stations). Southernmost Germany in range of Austrian TV broadcast thus could watch the episode. In Germany a translated version was aired in 1999, but only late at night on pay-tv (as well as a home video release). * Eneg's name is an inside joke-- it is "Gene" backwards. The name "Zeon" is a take on "Zion", while "Abrom" corresponds to "Abraham", "Davod" to "David", "Isak" to "Isaac" and "Daras" reversed is almost "Sara." * The headquarters of the Nazi Party in this episode are the redecorated offices of Paramount Pictures during the 60s, including the building where Lucille Ball ran Desilu. * V-2 rocket footage from World War II Germany is used in the newscast showing Ekosian missiles. * No stardate is logged in the episode. Bjo Trimble gave it a stardate of 2534.0 in her Star Trek Concordance, apparently using an earlier script version. *This is the second mention of Nazi Germany in Star Trek. The first time the Nazis are mentioned was in the TOS episode "The City on the Edge of Forever". The theme is reprised in later shows, first on VOY: "The Killing Game", where Hirogen take over ''Voyager'' and use the holodeck to recreate Nazi Germany and then in ENT: "Zero Hour", and "Storm Front", when agents from the Temporal Cold War sent Captain Archer and the Enterprise (NX-01) back to the Second World War. * In a change from the stock explosion used throughout the second season, an animated nuclear blast was created for this episode. * The attacking V-2 rocket on the viewscreen of ''Enterprise'' is reused footage of the Orion ship from Journey to Babel. * In one of the (stock) news footage scenes a car with Adolf Hitler accompanied by soldiers is used to represent John Gill as the Führer on planet Ekos. * Star Trek 12 contains a novelization of this story by James Blish and J.A. Lawrence. Links and References Main cast * William Shatner as Kirk * Leonard Nimoy as Spock * DeForest Kelley as McCoy * James Doohan as Scott * Nichelle Nichols as Uhura * Walter Koenig as Chekov Guest cast * David Brian as John Gill * Richard Evans as Isak * Skip Homeier as Melakon * Chuck Courtney as Davod * Patrick Horgan as Chairman Eneg * Valora Norland as Daras * William Wintersole as Abrom ;Ekosians and Zeons * Paul Baxley as First Trooper * William Blackburn as Trooper and Hadley * Peter Canon as Gestapo lieutenant * Gilbert Green as SS Major * Bart LaRue as Newscaster * Eddie Paskey as Trooper * Ralph Maurer as SS Lieutenant * Ed McCready as SS Trooper * Frank da Vinci as Soldier at party References Alexander the Great; Napoléon Bonaparte; Julius Caesar; cultural contamination; Ekos; Ekosian; führer; Iron Cross; Adolf Hitler; Human history; Kuan, Lee; Nazi; Prime Directive; projectile weapon; Ramses; rubindium; SS; subcutaneous transponder; swastika; transponder; Uletta; Zeon; Zeon (planet). Category:TOS episodes de:Schablonen der Gewalt nl:Patterns of Force